Dept. of Orwellian English

Sunday the Mercury-News ran a profile and Q & A with the head of BEA, a company I worked for in 2001 and 2002. Apparently refusing to recognize that most of the world just has problems getting clean drinking water and making it to age 50, he actually said, "What are we here for? We are here because we are trying to change the world." And if you think that's taken out of context, look at the whole section:

Q: What is it like to head a company that has been mentioned as a possible takeover target?

A: I spent nine years working for Sun Microsystems. There was not a day when there weren't rumors that someone was going to acquire Sun. It's the stuff the public loves to talk about, reporters love to ask about.

What are we here for? We are here because we are trying to change the world. I stick my credit card in the machine at the airport and a boarding pass comes out. Being independent is the way to go. I believe that if we were not independent, this could not have been done. The world would still be run completely on IBM.

An airline ticket kiosk -- that's changing the world? I guess maybe it changed the world for the ticket agent the machine replaced.

Then there's always the possibility he should just never speak in public. That was certainly true of a CEO at another company I worked for. The guy was famous for shooting off his mouth. Eventually, in a rare instance of corporate realism, he lost his job.

Meanwhile, on the Gannon/Guckert front, the story is starting to run dry, but this column from an apparently crusty Chicago Tribune reporter offers a great perspective. Having had experience with Republican press-handling efficiency, he just isn't buying the White House's story that they didn't really know, or pay attention to, who "Gannon" was.